Ottawa informed about gunman earlier this month
Canada’s spy agency was provided information by a concerned citizen last week about the optics of convicted gunman Jaspal Atwal attending events with the prime minister in India, Postmedia has learned.
The tipster, who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation, confirmed speaking to an agent from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service on Feb. 17, hoping to alert the Canadian government to Atwal’s criminal history.
The person said to the CSIS agent that “this is an embarrassment for the prime minister and (CSIS) should send a note to the prime minister’s office, and they sent a note.”
CSIS did not respond to requests for comment Thursday.
A separate source told Postmedia News that some members of the Punjabi-language media in Surrey sent news reports about Atwal’s history to the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi on Feb. 20.
The source said it was widely known that Atwal, a former member of the terrorist International Sikh Youth Federation, was going to India to attend some of the events with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Canadian delegation.
Despite the warnings, Atwal attended a reception on Wednesday in Mumbai where he was photographed with Trudeau’s wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau and Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi.
Atwal also received a formal invitation to attend a dinner with the Trudeaus at the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi on Thursday night. But that was rescinded after Postmedia and the CBC broke the story Wednesday of Atwal’s history.
The Surrey man was convicted of attempted murder for the 1986 shooting of a visiting Punjabi cabinet minister on Vancouver Island. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison. His target, Malkiat Singh Sidhu, survived the B.C. attack, but was later assassinated in India.
Atwal was charged and acquitted in the vicious beating of Ujjal Dosanjh, later a B.C. premier, in Vancouver in February 1985.
After the controversy erupted Wednesday, Surrey Centre MP Randeep Sarai issued a statement saying he “alone” was responsible for getting Atwal access to the events in India.
“I should have exercised better judgment, and I take full responsibility for my actions,” Sarai said.
Trudeau also acknowledged the error, saying Atwal “never should have received an invitation and as soon as we found out we rescinded the invitation immediately.”
Atwal told Postmedia on Wednesday that he was in India as a representative of a Surrey-based internet radio station called Media Waves Communications.
But station owner Ashiana Khan said Thursday that Atwal has nothing to do with the station and is not in India on behalf of Media Waves.
“He is quite active with the community, as well as with the political party. So being with the media, he’s been in touch. I have known him for a while,” Khan said. “Before the federal election … he was associated by bringing guests over, connecting with them and asking me if I could have the guests and all those sorts of things. But he never worked for Media Waves.”
Atwal appears in a photo with both Sarai and Surrey-Newton MP Sukh Dhaliwal posted on the Media Waves Facebook page on Oct. 20, 2015, the day after the Liberals won the federal election.
“Proud of both Liberal candidates, MP Randeep Sarai and Sukh Dhaliwal. Media Waves will work closely with both candidates to bring changes to Surrey,” the comment under the photo says.
The Surrey station’s support for the Liberals prompted complaints from both the NDP and Conservatives to Elections Canada.
The Conservative complaint includes photos of Atwal and the Liberal MPs that were posted on Media Waves’ social media pages, former Tory MP and lawyer KerryLynne Findlay said, along with details of Atwal’s criminal conviction.
Conservative candidate Harpreet Singh, who lost in Surrey-Newton in 2015 and was also interviewed in connection with the complaint against Media Waves, said the controversy over Atwal being at government functions in India is unfortunate.
“They should do more verification because it embarrasses the government,” he said. “Of course, the government should be more vigilant when inviting people to such events.”